SA firms go offshore for skills

Despite SA seeing high growth in post-matric ICT qualifications and registrations for diplomas in the ICT sector, local companies still see the need to go off-shore to address their skills needs. This is due to a lack of adequate training and experience among jobseekers.

In the ICT Sector Education Training Authority (ISETT SETA) report detailing its skills development plan, it states there was 54.92% growth in post-matric ICT qualifications, and 64% increase in registrations for diplomas in the sector in 2003-2005.

The highest growth in specialised skills was seen in telecommunications hardware, at 1 371.43%, followed by growth in registrations in IT hardware at 114.19%, telecoms software at 100%, IT software at 60.02% and electronics software at 75%.

However, despite this increase, the ICT industry says it is still facing an acute shortage of skills that is now turning into a "crisis". To cope, a number of companies say they are considering either importing or off-shoring skills that cannot be found locally.

"We are looking at off-shoring as a viable option," says Business Connexion deputy CEO Benjamin Mophatlane.

Viola Manuel, executive director of the Cape IT Initiative (CITI), says there are at least two companies in the initiative that are considering bringing in foreign software developers.

"CITI is also aware of recruitment companies looking at ways to recruit within these foreign markets. Corporate giants like Old Mutual and Telkom already do this as part of their strategy to secure the skills they need," she notes.

Novell SA CEO Stafford Masie argues that companies will have to follow this route to remain competitive. However, SA still needs to look at increasing its local human resources capacity, he says.

ISETT SETA indicates the IT sub-sector is the hardest hit, with 7 166 reported vacancies in 2003-2005; 4 060 of which were for technical positions. The telecoms market did marginally better, with 1 649, a thousand of which were for technical positions.

However, the report projects strong growth in demand for these two sub-sectors, further increasing the demand for people.

Manuel says companies are looking at sourcing skilled staff offshore because of a lack of skills in the marketplace and the high cost of available skills. "The main reason is our lack of planning for the supply of skills."

Paracon CEO Mark Jurgens says the skills shortage facing SA has less to do with low availability of skills in the marketplace and more with the availability of experienced skills.

"The bigger problem is that companies are looking for candidates with experience, not graduates. While we are increasing the number of people entering IT-related training, we are still trying to overcome the years at the turn of the century where institutions slowed their intake of the newly-graduated," he says.

"Institutional intake is on the increase again, but this will not provide a quick-fix for our experience requirements."

Masie adds that new graduates in SA are not immediately productive in the job market, as is the case internationally. It takes SA up to 24 months for new graduates to become productive, he says.

He also calls for increased coordination between all stakeholders. "It's not just a problem for the ICT sector, or educational institutions or government."

Manuel says government should provide tax incentives to encourage companies to develop skills, and points to Ireland as an example.

"Government gave huge tax incentives and in response to these commitments, the labour force created a stable economic environment. SA has never had this approach towards the growth of the industry."